The Most Important Rebels, No. 15: Jaylen Walton

OXFORD -- Welcome back to what is quickly becoming a Clarion-Ledger tradition: the 75 Most Important Rebels.

If you're not familiar, each you we countdown the players who matter to the success of Ole Miss football. This is not a straight talent-evaluation: role matters, which means a true special-teamer (long-snapper Will Denny, for example) is more valuable than the third-team left tackle.

No. 15: Jaylen Walton

Position: Running back

Year: Junior

Height/weight: 5-foot-8, 166 pounds

In 2013: Walton entered his second year expected to have a similar role as to the one he had as a freshman: return kickoffs and be a reserve running back. But Jeff Scott's lingering injury issues forced Walton into six starts and a position-high 112 carries. Walton was second on the team in rushing, with 522 yards, and scored six touchdowns. His kickoff return average went down by just more than four yards, to 20.6, but he was still solid in that part of the game.

Offseason: With Scott now totally out of the picture, the spring was about Walton and classmate I'Tavius Mathers competing for the No. 1 job while holding off a sea of competitors. Walton ended up missing the back half of spring with a hamstring injury that was never considered serious, but was part of an overall approach by Ole Miss to be more cautious than anything else.

In 2014: We already know that an undersized running back can be effective in the Ole Miss offense, so that's not a huge concern with Walton. But it is fair to wonder if Walton can really be a good SEC back. Consider his numbers last year against conference competition: 61 carries for 250 yards, 18 and 105 of which came against LSU. He averaged less than four yards per carry in six of the eight games, as well. Maybe he would have done better given more carries consistently, but part of being an effective back in college is being able to come onto the field ready. Ole Miss has a deep group of backs, but the coaches seem ready to roll with Mathers and Walton as the 1-2 punch. For that to work, Ole Miss is going to need Walton to be more consistently effective.